Thursday, December 6, 2012

Heat-seeking knitter

There is something about a sudden drop in temperature that sends me scrambling for my knitting needles and really warm yarns, even as I kick myself for not preparing for the inevitable cold weather that pretty much goes along with living in Toronto.

(in my defense, last winter was very mild and almost entirely snow free, much like the previous few winters that were also snow free if not quite so mild: I'm out of practise.)

What's really annoying though is how we are getting these scary cold snaps for a few days and then boom! warm again for a few days more. I say 'annoying' not because I resent the sudden release from air that doesn't stab at you with a million tiny icicles, but because every time it warms up again I breathe a sigh of relief and return to whatever totally-inappropriate-for-cold-weather knitting I had been doing before the cold made me panic.

Getting To The Point

The latest round of warm we experienced (it's so over now) didn't put me back to sleep, mainly because the cold that preceded it was really nasty. I don't have a warm enough hat for those conditions, and I badly need a warm cowl to keep the wind from whooshing down the neck of my coat.

(small yay: my heavy twined mittens appear to be more than warm enough, as in, sometimes I actually have to take them off because my hands get too hot.)

I had expected the weekend to find me skulking in a corner with the project I'm about to show you but I got sidetracked by Christmas prep and the first gift sock. Now that I'm finally making progress on it though, I feel pretty good:

This is some Duchess, 100% superwash merino from Twisted Fiber Art (see 'yarns' tab above.) The colourway is 'Velvet', which I bought pretty much a ton of after the club it came out in was finished; I have some roving I haven't spun yet, and two skeins of the same colour in Playful plus the contrasting gold colour, and exactly the same combination in Duchess. Ordering that much yarn made sense at the time and now that I'm stashbusting I'm wishing I knew why; however, I'm glad I did it because look!

It sort of almost doesn't scream at my handspun mitts.

The plan is for this cowl to serve as the turtle part of a turtleneck, complete with extra length to pull up over my chin. So many cowls are decorative and hang loose around the lower part of your neck, you know? and they do keep you really warm - I'll even wear them around the house if it's cold enough in here, which happens a lot - but they do nothing for your face. Fingers crossed for this one to fill the gap.

And for finishing it before the current cold snap gets too crazy. It's coming along...

... but there are ever so many things I should be knitting and weaving and sewing and omigosh, it's less than three weeks to Christmas now, isn't it.

See you tomorrow and wherever you are, I hope you're warm enough (and not panicking)!

2 comments:

Hello! Is this cowl a personal pattern? I really love it. I like mine to be more snug rather that loose and I like your pattern. Not to worry if it is and you don't have it written down...I can wait until after Christmas. ;o) P.S. I love the colorways and it goes perfect with your mittens!